Founder profile: Nathan Price
Destiny works in mysterious ways, and Nathan Price is no exception. A part-time job in high school seems in retrospect to have been set aside just for him — the first step on Price’s path to becoming a cofounder of Shepherd’s and its head tailor — as well as a fortuitous meeting with Harrison Butker, who went from client to business partner.
Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Nathan developed his passion for entrepreneurship and clothing at an early age. Before cofounding Shepherd’s, he expanded his sartorial acumen at Beckett & Robb, a custom clothier based in Salt Lake City, Utah, before returning to his home state to head up the Shepherd’s flagship in Kansas City.
Christian Chensvold — menswear historian, friend of Shepherd’s, and author of The Philosophy of Style — recently caught up with Nathan to learn more about his journey to becoming a torchbearer of the tailoring tradition.
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CC: You started out as Harrison’s stylist and are now his business partner. What’s it like dressing the Kansas City Chiefs’ kicker now?
NP: One of best parts about working with Harrison is that he isn’t stuck in his own ideas and is very open to suggestions. He wants to be the best-dressed man in the room, but that doesn’t mean always wearing a three-piece pinstriped suit. He was open to me bringing in flannels and tweeds and softer construction that would allow him to wear a sport coat comfortably but still be polished, which was what he was looking for. Harrison’s also very detail-oriented and notices everything down to the centimeter. If he wasn’t playing football, he would be an amazing tailor since he really loves and enjoys clothing and all the nuances of how a garment fits.
CC: You discovered tailored clothing through an after-school job in high school.
NP: That’s right. Men’s Wearhouse paid a dollar more than the other jobs I looked at in high school. Clothing turned out to be where I got to express some creativity. I bought a shirt and tie with my first paycheck, which I wore to school on a formal attire day with my terribly fit blazer and khakis, and I felt like a million bucks because I’d put it together myself. From there it was off to the races.
CC: A well-tied tie is the first serious step in life, as Oscar Wilde put it. Now how do people respond when you say you’re a tailor?
NP: Half the people think it means I hem wedding dresses, and I have to explain, “No, I have a clothing company and fit gentlemen for suits that are made in Europe,” and say that I’ve helped men select over a thousand custom-made garments. Like anything else you make mistakes along the way, and eventually you get pretty good at it.
CC: What do you enjoy about tailoring most?
NP: One of my favorite kinds of customer is the kind of guy who can’t ever find something that fits. A football player who hadn’t had custom before was skeptical at first, but when his first order came in, I heard from the dressing room him saying, “Oh wow, this is amazing!” He came out smiling and looking like a million bucks and has bought dozens of garments since. That makes me really happy.
The second type is the kind of professional who’s a little lost or stuck in how he should dress. We have a client who’s a popular speaker on TV and college campuses, and he had nothing but blue suits and always felt overdressed among fellow panelists in jeans and sport coats, saying he didn’t know how to do that. We talked through how to match different colored jackets and slacks, and built him a wardrobe that, with a variety of shirts, he can use to assemble dozens of outfits. He wears the stuff almost every day now and is very happy.
So, it’s solving the tricky fit and helping a guy figure out who he is—or who he wants to be—and helping him get there.
CC: What about you? What’s your personal preference?
NP: Something simple but played up with details, like a navy sharkskin suit, but with jetted pockets, wide peak lapel a la Tom Ford, and a beautiful slim shoe in brown or black, like Gaziano & Girling. Then a white shirt and a tie in a color suited to the occasion.
This past winter I made a three-piece charcoal flannel chalk stripe suit. It’s simple in color and pattern, but the details and softness make it a great outfit and I wore it a ton. For this summer I ordered a Neapolitan-style jacket in an exceptional raspberry color.
CC: Do you have a style icon you particularly like?
NP: It’s kind of a cop-out, but probably Steve McQueen. I have memories of watching “The Great Escape” with my dad and noting McQueen’s ability to crawl out of a tunnel covered in mud, wearing a bomber jacket and chinos and just look super-stylish. And all his outfits were that way.
CC: What does your wife think of your being a clotheshorse?
NP: We were high school sweethearts, and she was actually pivotal in pushing me down this road. She’s quite fashionable, and when we were 17 and went out to dinner with her parents, I was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt that I thought was nice because it had a brand name on it. Her dad is a businessman, and she said, “Umm, this isn’t it. You need to figure it out.” Now a decade later here we are.